I Promise!
by geozaki
Summary: Weirdmageddon was brought to an end, Bill was defeated and Gravity Falls returned to normal. Well, as normal as Gravity Falls can be anyway. Dipper and Mabel returned to their usual, boring lives back in Piedmont, California. However, as the year draws to a close the Twins start to overflow with excitement they'll be returning to Gravity Falls for the summer, they'll be back home!
1. Chapter 1 - The Journey Home

**Hello, and thank you for choosing to read my story! I am in LOVE with Gravity Falls, it's like my favourite thing ever! But enough of that for now. I want to keep the characters in this story as close to their canon counterparts as possible, however, thanks to a lack of self-confidence and terrible writing skills I want to apologise in advance if I fail miserably. So, if you're still here and I haven't put you off yet, I hope you enjoy! And once again, thank you for reading my story.**

 **P.s. Off to a great start Geo, starting a sentence with 'And' and you're still only on the Author's note!**

* * *

People always stress over the big things in life, school, jobs, grades, however, people never seem to realise that more often than not, it's the small things that end up changing your life forever. Like if your parents decide to send you and your sibling away for the summer because you could 'do with getting some fresh air', or your great uncle asking you to hang up some signs in the forest or placing your trust in someone in the heat of the moment. Over the course of a few days, a few hours, a few minutes or even a few seconds your life can change, forever. The only question remaining is; how?

* * *

"I'll race you!" a 13-year-old girl called out as she sprinted down the street as fast as her legs could possibly carry her, her brown hair fluttering behind her as she ran, on her back sat her school backpack which was heavy with the weight of a years worth of work, doodles, stickers and nightmares. This Girl is Mabel Pines, not far behind her is her twin brother, Dipper Pines. "Hey, wait up!" Dipper called to his sister, sprinting after her, he wore a similar backpack to Mabel and his brown hair was largely covered by a slightly tatty Trapper Hat. The twins had just finished their last year of elementary school and were super excited, tomorrow morning they were leaving their house in California and catching a bus to a small town in Oregon known as Gravity Falls, as far as the twins were concerned, they weren't going on vacation, they were going home. Their last summer had been rather eventful. Following the discovery of an old journal the two had been on countless adventures, they'd defeated an army of gnomes, had a karaoke party literally loud enough to split our skull, inadvertently helped to rescue their great uncle Ford, who's been trapped in an alternate reality for 30 years, and saved the world from a blood thirsty, psychopathic triangle, now that's something to put on your CV! Well, it would be, if they could actually discuss the events of their previous summer with anyone. It turned out that most people didn't believe in Zombies and Eyebats. The twins' parents had put the crazy contents of Mabel's letters home during the summer down to an overactive imagination and the twins decided it was probably best that their parents keep believing that, if they ever found out how close their children had been to dying over the summer then there's no way that they'd ever be allowed to go back to Gravity Falls ever again.

Mabel burst through the door to their house, almost knocking the door clean off its hinges, Dipper followed her closely and the two made a beeline for their rooms. Mabel burst into her room, tossing her school bag onto her bed, she then rushed around her room, stuffing clothes, books, pens, pencils and sweaters into a collection of bags. Then, when she ran out of room, she poured the contents of her school bag onto her bed and started filling that as well. Dipper raced upstairs after his sister and rushed into his own room. He placed his school bag on his bed and started to pack everything he thought he'd need. A couple spare changes of clothes, some pens and most importantly, a small blue and white book with a blue pine tree adorning the centre of its front cover. After discovering Ford's third journal a few days into his summer last year and obsessing over it for the whole summer, as well as reading the first two, he decided to keep a journal of his own. He knew that it wasn't anywhere as near as exciting or interesting as Ford's journals but he still couldn't wait to show his Grunkles.

The evening crept by at an unbearable pace, even their dinner seemed to go on forever. But soon enough, bed time came. Dipper climbed into bed, pulling his covers up to his shoulders and willing himself to fall asleep. He knew it was useless, there was no way he was going to fall asleep tonight, he was just too excited! A few minutes later there was a soft knock at his door. Dipper sat up, positioning himself so he was facing the door, "Yeah?" He called. The door opened a crack and on the other side stood Mabel, she was clutching her pillows and her duvet was trailing across the floor behind her. "Could I sleep with you tonight?" She asked awkwardly. "Yeah! Of course!" Dipper replied. "Here!" He said, sliding across his bed to make room for his sister and patting the space beside him. Mabel dropped her pillows and duvet, leaving them in a crumpled pile on the floor, and slipped into bed beside her brother. The two smiled at each other excitedly. A short while later the door opened again and their mum walked into the room. "I don't think I've seen you both this excited... well ever!" She said with a laugh. "Just try and get some sleep ok?" She said, kissing both Mabel's and Dipper's foreheads. "Goodnight my little angels."

The time continued to crawl past at an unbearable rate. Dipper glanced at his clock, it read 11:37. "Only eight and a half hours until we leave for Gravity Falls." He commented. "Agh! That's toooo long!" Mabel whined. Their thoughts turned to the Mystery Shack, to Soos and Wendy and their Grunkles. They'd waited 261 days to return to Gravity Falls, not that they'd been counting... yeah, they've totally been counting, but finally, their time was almost here!

By the time it was actually time to leave the house to catch their bus, Dipper and Mabel had been pretty much standing, waiting by the door for close enough to an hour. Their parents drove them to the bus station and waited with them for the bus. Once the bus pulled in, Mabel and Dipper stepped on board, waving goodbye to their parents until the bus rounded a corner, cutting them off. The bus was empty except for Dipper, Mabel, the driver and, of course, Waddles. The bus company still had an issue with a pig travelling on the bus, but they kept their issue quiet as everyone was far too afraid of Stanley and Stanford to actually bring it up. The twins could hardly contain their excitement, they were finally on their way back to Gravity Falls! At first, they tried to entertain themselves. They played a good game of bus seat treasure hunt, literally checking each and every seat as the bus was empty. Mostly all they found was abandoned chewing gum or some random coin though every now and then something interesting did pop up, like the driver's licence and the perfectly good unopened bag of sweets, which they quickly demolished between them, waddles helped too of course! After checking every seat, they resorted to eye spy, but soon enough their lack of sleep caught up with them and the twins drifted off to sleep.

Mabel slowly opened her eyes, the steady rocking of the bus as it drove along the road immediately told her that they weren't there yet. But how close were they? How long had she been asleep? She lifted her head from where it had been resting, on Dippers shoulder, and peeked out of the window. "Dipper!" She said in an excited yet hushed tone as she gently shook her brother, trying to coax him from his slumber. "Dipper!" She said again, slightly louder this time. Dipper slowly opened his eyes and eyed his twin. "What is it Mabel?" He asked grumpily, he'd never been the biggest fan of mornings or waking up in general. "Look!" Mabel said excitedly pointing towards the window. Dipper slowly sat up and cast a glance out of the window, as he did his eyes widened and his heart began to pound with excitement. "Dipper, we're home!"

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 **I know it's not huge, and it's not all that great but I'm really excited about this story, I have some plans and really look forward to continuing to write it! I'll try and update it regularly, but I'm not going to give any sort of schedule becasue I am the worlds most unreliable being. I hope you enjoyed and if you made it this far, thank you so much for reading! It means a lot! Geo out!**


	2. Chapter 2 - Reunion

The bus slowly ground to a halt and the doors opened slowly allowing Mabel and Dipper to step out of the vehicle and into their summer. As the bus closed its doors and started to drive away, Mabel and Dipper noticed a familiar face waiting for them at the bus stop. "Melody!" The twins called, running towards her at great speed. Melody giggled, catching them both and giving them both a big squeeze. Melody led them over to a golf cart and helped the two of them load their bags onto it. "You have no idea how excited Soos is to see you both!" Melody said as she started the golf cart.

* * *

Since Mabel and Dipper had left Gravity Falls, Soos had claimed ownership of the Mystery Shack, he'd become the new Mr Mystery. Stanford and Stanley had set off on an epic voyage, exploring the world together, just like they'd always dreamed of doing as children. Melody, Soos' long distance girlfriend had moved from her home in Portland to live with Soos and his grandma, Abuelita at the Mystery Shack. Stanley and Stanford were returning for the summer, Soos was allowing them to stay in the Mystery Shack along with Mabel and Dipper.

* * *

Melody pulled up at the Mystery Shack and switched off the golf cart. From the outside, the shack looked almost exactly like it had last year, however, the letter S on the sign which sat on the roof was actually stuck to the sign for once. "Your uncles will be arriving a little bit later." Melody explained as she leapt out of the golf cart. Mabel and Dipper also jumped out of the cart and ran towards the building, completely forgetting about their bags. They burst open the door and rushed inside. It was dark and quiet inside, which was strange. The only reason Soos hadn't accompanied Melody to pick them up was because he was working, so where was he? And where were all the customers? Mabel made her way towards the living room, closely followed by Dipper. Mabel switched on the light and what greeted them almost gave the twins heart attacks. As the light flickered to life it revealed a gathering of people who all roared "Welcome Home!" After getting over the shock, the twins laughed and eagerly ventured inside to greet all of their friends. It seemed most of the people they knew from Gravity Falls had been waiting for them. Soos, Grenda, Candy, Wendy, even Pacifica was there. "Oh, I missed you doods!" Soos said, smothering the twins with a huge hug. Banners were hanging from the walls and there was party food and pop. "You held a surprise party for us?" Mabel asked, seeming to be on the verge of tears. "Of course we did, y'know Gravity Falls just isn't the same without you two!" Soos explained. "Besides, you always said that you'd wanted a surprise party, right?" another, much softer voice added. Grenda and Candy had walked over to them. "My people!" Mabel exclaimed, launching herself at the two. Dipper scanned the room until he found who he was looking for. He walked towards a tall red-haired girl who was wearing a green flannel shirt. Perched on the girl's head was a white and blue baseball cap with the blue image of a pine tree on the front. "Wendy!" Dipper called as he neared her. "Dipper!" The girl called back. she was surrounded by her usual group of friends, Robbie, Thompson, Tambry, Lee and Nate. "It's good to have you back man!" Wendy told him. "This place just isn't the same without you and your sister."  
"It's good to be back!" Dipper replied.

After catching up a little with friends, Dipper and Mabel made their way back to the golf cart and dragged their stuff upstairs to the attic. The room was almost completely bare, save a few posters and drawings that hung from the walls. Some of the things that the twins had drawn were related to their adventures with the supernatural and after the decision to not tell their parents about what they'd really done last summer, they decided to leave them here for safe keeping. The twins had a lot of redecorating to do, but for now, they dumped their bags and hurried downstairs to spend more time with the people they'd had to leave behind.

* * *

The sun slowly descended below the horizon, shrouding the shack in darkness. However, on the inside, the lights stayed on, as did the music. Wendy, Candy Grenda and Mabel had just played a game of spin the pig. Waddles had ended up pointing towards Dipper and so the girls, accompanied by waddles, were chasing Dipper, trying to force him to kiss waddles. Dipper rushed through the shack and through the door to outside. But as he emerged from the house, he froze. Mabel was close behind him, clutching Waddles. "Ready for a ki-" Mabel also froze as her gaze followed Dippers. Waddles wriggled in her arms so she placed him gently on the floor. "What's up with you two? You look like you've seen a ghost!" A rough voice called with a slight tone of mockery. "Grunkle Stan!" The twins cried out excitedly, attacking their Grunkle with hugs. Stan chuckled, embracing the two. "I guess I've got to put up with you two for another summer then." He said in his affectionate grunkly way. Then, the door on the other side of the car that they were all standing next to, opened. A man, similar in many ways to Stan stepped out of the car, he was better dressed and generally more well kept than Stan. "Grunkle Ford!" Dipper and Mabel cried, charging towards him and also attacking him with hugs. "It's good to see you again kids!" Ford chuckled, his voice was much softer than his brother's voice. "Ok, ok!" Stan said. "We need to get our stuff inside so why don't you go play with your dolls or something?" Mabel and Dipper slowly made their way back to the shack. "It's good to see you again!" Mabel called to them as they walked back into the shack. Stan wasn't being nasty, it was all just part of his whole cold exterior act, inside he was really just a big old softie.

"So, what adventures are we gonna have this year?" Wendy asked Mabel and Dipper as they walked back into the shack. "Well, Wendy..." Dipper started. "We were thinking of just chilling out this summer, you know, maybe spend most of our time at the pool, watch some TV..." There was a moment's pause before the three of them started laughing. A chilled out holiday in gravity falls? Yeah right! Suddenly Mabel stopped laughing, her eyes glistening over with realisation. "ohmygod!" She said suddenly.  
"What's wrong?" Dipper asked.  
"Grunkle Stan is here, do you know what this means Dipper?" Mabel said with an intense glare at her brother.  
"That we'll have to endure his cooking again?" Dipper questioned.  
"No silly!" Mabel said with a smile. "It means we can do a reunion."  
"You mean like the one we're already having?" Dipper asked.  
Mabel shook her head. "I mean, Love Patrol Alpha!" She cried out, grabbing Dipper by the hand.  
"Uh oh..." Dipper said as he was whisked off by his sister.  
"Grunkle Stan, oh Grunkle Staaan!" Mabel called out as she dragged Dipper along behind her.

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 **Thanks for reading my second chapter! I know I only uploaded the first one earlier today but this is the last chance I'll get to do any proper writing for a few days as I'm working 7am - 11pm ish every day from tomorrow until Sunday, ahh the joys of finding summertime jobs! Also, it occurs to me that I may have mucked up the whole part about where Mabel and Dipper would be in their education in chapeter 1 as I live in the UK and our education system is rather different to the one in America, so if I did mess that up, I'm sorry!**

 **Once again thank you for reading my story, and I hope to see you in the next chapter!  
-Geo-**


	3. Chapter 3 - Family and Stancakes!

"So, Shooting Star, you've finally returned. I've been lonely without you. Why don't you come and see me? I'll be waiting!"

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Mabel woke with a start, her heart was pounding and she was covered in a cold sweat. Her cover was in a crumpled pile on the floor. Mabel sighed, "It was just a dream, Mabel..." She told herself. She shook the dream from her head and slid off her bed and onto the floor. This was her first morning back in Gravity Falls and she was looking forward to another summer of adventure! "Dipper." She said in a hushed tone, perching on the end of her brother's bed and bouncing up and down, hoping that the motion would help wake Dipper up, otherwise, extreme measures would have to be taken. "Dipper!" She repeated, louder this time. "DIPPER!" Mabel shouted, launching herself at her brother. "Ah!" Dipper sat up, wriggling free from his sister's grasp. Once he broke free Dipper looked at his sister with an irritated gaze. Sometimes he hated Mabel, and it would be a long time before he would forget having to sing in front of everyone last night, especially Wendy. But, he knew that without Mabel, he'd be lost. The girl in question currently appeared to be in a fit of giggles on Dipper's bed. "I swear, if I didn't know you as well as I do, I'd think that you'd gotten into the Smile Dip again," Dipper said sarcastically as he looked over towards Mabel who cringed at the mention of Smile Dip. "Eeeviiiiil!" She droned quietly as memories of how the stuff had made her feel entered her head. "M-Mabel?" Dipper said awkwardly, indicating he was going to ask something that made him feel nervous for some reason.  
"Yeah?" Mabel asked, bringing a sudden stop to her morning insanity, she climbed down from Dipper's bed and sat opposite him on the floor.  
"We'll always be together, right?" Dipper asked, his voice cracking slightly as he did.  
"What kind of question is that? Of course we will!" Mabel told him with a smile.  
"But what if... what if we become like Stan and Ford?" Dipper said.  
"What do you mean?" Mabel asked, tilting her head slightly.  
"I mean, they used to be inseparable, like us but, when you think about it, they've spent more of their lives apart and not even speaking to each other, than they have together," Dipper explained.  
"Dipper, I'm sorry..." Mabel said quietly, "...but, you're not getting out of it that easily."  
"What do you mean?" Dipper asked.  
"I'm never leaving your side!" Mabel said with a smile. "You're gonna get sick of me soon enough, you'll start to wish that we had spent more time apart because you're stuck with me FOREVER!" Mabel exclaimed.  
Dipper smiled. "Promise?"  
"Promise!" Mabel opened her arms, "awkward sibling hug?" She asked  
"Awkward sibling hug." Dipper said, embracing his sister. After a moment the siblings both chanted "Pat Pat" as they gave each other a pat on the back. Dipper broke the embrace sitting back down on the floor, he looked up at Mabel who was smiling at him but he could tell that she was trying her hardest to hold back her tears. Mabel was just as worried, if not more so, than Dipper about the idea of the two of them being separated so the moment had probably been quite special to her. "Come on!" Dipper said, standing up and extending his hand out towards his sister. "Let's go and get something to eat." He suggested. Mabel reached towards his hand, enclosing it in hers. "Ok." She said with a smile before standing up and following Dipper downstairs.

* * *

"Hey, doods!" Once downstairs Mabel and Dipper bumped into Soos who was seeming rather chirpy.  
"Morning Soos!" Mabel chimed.  
"Hey, Soos." Dipper said.  
"Stan's making breakfast for everyone" Soos announced. "I'm not totally sure what but he seemed rather excited about it!"  
"Thanks, Soos." Dipper said, pulling Mabel along to the kitchen.  
"Good Morning Grunkle Stan!" The Twins said as they walked into the kitchen.  
"Oh, hey kids" Stan replied.  
Dipper and Mabel sat down at the table while Stan cooked. Nothing much was said other than a friendly 'good morning' to anyone who walked in. After a short while, everyone was sat at the table. Mabel, Dipper, Ford, Soos Melody, Stan and, of course, Waddles. Everyone else had made their way home at some point during the party last night. Sitting before them on the table was a feast of Pancakes, eggs, bacon, sausages in a sort of buffet style. Mabel and Dipper went straight for the pancakes. "Syryp race!" Mabel declared and the two of them grabbed a bottle of syrup each.  
"Stan, I must say you've outdone yourself!" Ford announced  
"Ah, it was nothing!" Stan said flippantly as he reached for the bacon.  
"So, what did you two get up to on your adventure?" Dipper asked his Grunkles as he placed the syrup back on the table, Mabel had won again, Dipper was starting to think that she was cheating somehow.  
"Oh you want to hear out tales of glory and heroism do you?" Stan asked  
"We were pretty heroic..." Ford commented with a playful smile before turning deadly serious, he looked at Mabel and Dipper with a cold gaze. "What stories do you both know about the Bermuda Triangle?" He asked  
"It's black magic!" Mabel shouted  
"Things go missing there, but statistically it makes sense if you think about the amount of-" Dipper was cut off by Ford, who was still deathly serious.  
"I assure you Dipper, the stories about the Bermuda Triangle are very real, in fact, I'd say that they don't quite capture the true phenomenon that occur there!"  
"Uh... Grunkle Ford?" Dipper asked, suddenly feeling slightly spooked by his Grunkle's serious act. Suddenly Stan and Ford burst out laughing. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up!" Dipper said, irritation evident in his voice.  
"Seriously though..." Ford said, "There are things that happened there that even I can't explain." Mabel listened closely, obviously drawn in by Ford's explanation and despite his attempt to act cool, Dipper was engrossed in the story as well. "Though most of the memories are still fresh in my mind, I'll have to dig out my journal to make sure I don't get anything mixed up." Ford explained.  
"Journal?" Dipper asked, suddenly filling with excitement as he remembered their little ritual at the end of last summer.  
"Yes Dipper, I wrote another Journal containing our adventures." Ford said, "And yes, you can read it!" He said with a knowing smile. "But it'll have to be later on, when I've found it."  
"So, what've you two troublemakers got planned today?" Stan asked, judging by the tone of his voice he didn't seem all that interested, but once you knew him as well as everyone around that table did, you knew that he was genuinely curious.  
"We're going on an adventure!" Mabel said excitedly.  
"Yeah, we thought it would be a nice way to officially begin the summer!" Dipper added. "The first official adventure of the year!"  
"That's a good idea, doods." Soos said with a smile. Mabel jumped up, standing on her chair, she raised her fist into the air and shouted.  
"The Adventure Awaits!"

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 **Ok, so while at work I had a few breaks while waiting between jobs so I used all my free time to finish this chapter, it was half done already so it wasn't too much work to finish it off. I'll try and keep working on it this reliably but I can't promise anything right now. The story is still very much in its introductory chapters and if some of my plans for it end up happening, it's destined to get rather dark towards the end. I've started laying the foundations but don't want to jump the gun on making things happen, so much of what was amazing about Gravity Falls was that it showed many episodes that weren't directly related to the overall plot and they showed moments of the family just having some summer fun and I don't want to lose the feeling that despite everything, they're still 'normal' people, although I don't believe there is such thing as 'normal' but hopefully you get what I'm trying to say! Sorry this note is far longer than I expected! Thankyou again from the bottom of my heart for reading! Until Next Time!**

 **Geo**


	4. Chapter 4 - Cold and Grey

"You know, this whole adventuring thing used to be a lot easier when we had the Journals." Dipper said to his sister as the two of them walked through a thick part of the forest surrounding the Mystery Shack. They'd been travelling for quite some time but nothing even mildly out the ordinary had happened well, at least nothing out of the ordinary for the mystery twins. "Don't worry broseph," Mabel said in her usual optimistic manner. "I'm sure we'll find something adventure worthy! I mean, we're in Gravity Falls!" Dipper looked at Mabel before smiling a little, he couldn't help it, she just had a way of bringing out the best in him. "Yeah, you're right!" He replied with newfound determination. Suddenly, Mabel darted forwards, something had caught her attention. "Hey, Dipper loook!" She called back to her brother, who was still quite a bit behind her, despite the distance between them he kept his slow pace, he was in no hurry. "Dipper!" Mabel's voice called again, sounding from within the trees in front of Dipper. "It looks like some sort of..." Mabel's voice quickly died away and was replaced by the sound of a scream, but not any kind of scream, Mabel's scream. "Mabel!" Dipper called, suddenly picking up the pace. There was no reply. "Mabel!" He shouted again, by this point he was sprinting, worried that something might've happened to his sister. He dashed through the forest and emerged into a clearing of sorts in the trees. There was a strange statue of sorts not too far away from him, the statue in question was covered in Ivy and other weed like plants which Dipper probably could have identified, but right now he didn't have the time, the only thing he currently wanted to identify, was Mabel's location. Luckily, he soon found her.

Mabel was on the floor, crawling backwards away from the statue, her eyes were fixated on it, showing the fear she felt within. She appeared to be shaking and almost didn't notice that Dipper had arrived. "Mabel, what's wrong?" Dipper asked worriedly, kneeling beside Mabel, he hadn't seen her freak out like this for a while. Mabel's gaze switched to her brother as if she'd only just seen him. "Dipper, it's him," She whispered, pointing towards the statue. Dipper turned to look at the statue. Slowly, he made his way towards it, as he approached the statue, his nerves started to show, his palms started to get sweaty and he found himself wanting to just turn back but, he had to know what could have scared his sister so much. He stood directly in front of the statue. He hesitated, took a deep breath and slowly moved some of the vegetation that was covering the statue.

At first, what Dipper saw horrified him. The pale grey stone had been carved into the shape of a triangle with a single eye, the statue was an uncanny depiction of Bill Cipher, right down to his top hat. It was shaped so perfectly it was almost hard to believe that it had been carved, it was almost as if it had just formed in this shape, though, Dipper knew that wasn't possible. After looking at the statue for a few seconds he turned around, allowing the vegetation to obscure the statue's features once more. He walked back to Mabel and knelt beside her again. He leant towards her and wrapped his arms around her tightly. "It's ok Mabel," He said softly. "It's just a statue." He knew that Mabel had overreacted to the presence of the statue, but he couldn't blame her, besides, this wasn't the first time. Though the events that had happened thanks to Bill would stay with Dipper for the rest of his life, he had managed to move on. To Dipper, Bill was nothing more than a memory. Mabel, on the other hand, seemed to have been scarred much worse by Bill than Dipper had been. Most of the time she was ok, but all it took was a trigger, no matter how small, and she just seemed to collapse. School had been getting increasingly harder for her to cope with, there was always a risk that something would set her off, even their lessons were starting to get to her. There was a time during a history lesson where the class had been discussing conspiracies and secret societies and the teacher had shown the class a picture of the eye of providence, Mabel had been to the nurse moments later, and there was that maths lesson where they were doing triangles. It had got to the point where Dipper took extra care whenever she was given money so that he could swap any one dollar notes she received for change or bigger notes so that there wasn't a risk of her seeing the eye of providence on those as well.

Mabel wrapped her arms around her brother, holding tight as if he'd disappear should she let him go. Eventually, she calmed down. "I'm sorry..." Mabel said quietly, she knew that she'd over reacted but she couldn't help it, it's like she lost all control over her body and over her mind. The reason that Bill still haunted her, both in her sleep and during day to day life, is that he was the only thing that had ever proven that he had the power to separate her from Dipper, whether it was by possessing Dipper's body, keeping her concealed in a prison that moulded itself on her imagination or even straight up killing her brother. If anyone would ever manage it, it would be Bill. "You don't need to be sorry." Dipper told her softly. Dipper slowly stood up, gently pulling Mabel to her feet along with him. "Come on, let's go back to the shack." He said gently. "We can do some more adventuring tomorrow."  
"Ok..." Mabel said quietly, she glanced at the statue briefly before looking at Dipper with a worried expression. "You don't think he would, or could ever come back, do you?" She asked. Dipper smiled reassuringly. "I Doubt it." He said. "Besides, we've defeated him once, so if he does return we can beat him again." As he spoke his smile didn't even falter once, but inside he wasn't so sure, if he was honest he had the same worries. Last time they defeated Bill they only just managed it, and it almost cost them Grunkle Stan, if Bill were to return, who's to say that they'd be able to take him out again? Besides, he's unlikely to fall for Stan pretending to be Ford again after last time...

"Find anything interesting?" As Mabel and Dipper entered the shack they were greeted by Fords voice.  
"Not really," Dipper replied. "It turns out that looking for the supernatural is much harder without the journals."  
"Well, maybe you just need to wait for the supernatural to find you?" Ford suggested  
"Or maybe you should just enjoy playing board games, or climbing trees like normal kids?" Stan suggested. There was a slight pause before he added. "Also, Melody's cooking, dinner will be ready soon." Dinner? They'd been out almost all day though it didn't feel like it.  
"Oh, uh Grunkle Ford." Dipper said, stepping towards Ford slowly. "Could I speak with you, uh, in private?" He asked.  
"Of course," Ford said, "Follow me." And with that, the two of them left the room.  
"What's wrong with you?" Stan asked looking at Mabel. "You're not your usual irritating, bouncy self."  
"Oh, uh, nothing, I'm fine!" Mabel insisted. "J-just tired, that's all!" She added, laughing awkwardly. "I-I'm gonna go upstairs..." She said, before making her way towards the attic. Stan watched her leave, he wasn't convinced in the slightest, he'd seen Mabel on 48 hours no sleep and she had still managed to run around plastering stickers to everyone and everything, well kind of anyway. He decided that she probably needed some alone time, but he was determined to find out what was bothering her, then he would to anything in his power to deal with it.

Ford led Dipper into the gift shop of the Mystery Shack, it was closed by nowise no one was in there. Ford walked up to the vending machine and keyed in the combination for access to his lab below the shack. "Soos left my lab pretty much untouched since we left." He explained to Dipper as the two of them slipped behind the machine and started the descent into the lab. "I want to move on from studying Gravity Falls, especially after I put you all in danger, but should the need arise, I must be prepared for anything! Though, I'm sure that need will never arise, just can't be too careful when you have a family to protect." He added the last bit hastily, not wanting to scare Dipper in anyway. They reached Ford's personal part of the lab, the part that only Ford and Dipper knew about. Ford pulled up two rather comfortable chairs sitting on one, Dipper sat on the other. Ford looked over towards Dipper, he could tell from how Dipper had asked if they could talk in private that this was something important, at least as far as Dipper was concerned. After a small pause, he asked the question. "So Dipper, what is it you wanted to talk to me about?"

* * *

 **This chapter took me a little longer to write thanks to work, but I got there in the end!  
Thank you again for reading!**


	5. Chapter 5 - Comfort

"Do you think there's a chance that Bill could return?"  
After Ford had asked Dipper what he wanted to talk about, Dipper had spent a fair amount of time thinking about how best to phrase it and from which angle would be best to approach the subject. But, in the end, he just sighed and asked the question on his mind in a straight forward manner. Ford thought about the question for a short while, he didn't know how he should reply to Dipper's question. There was a part of him who wanted to tell Dipper that everything was going to be ok and that there was nothing that could possibly bring Bill back. However, there was also a part of him that felt he should share his true thoughts on the matter, after everything they'd been through together, surely Dipper deserved to know the truth? But the protective part of Ford, that wanted to tell Dipper that everything was, and would always be, fine, the part of him that wanted to shield his great nephew from the truth was still fighting its corner. Dipper raised his gaze from the floor looking up at Ford, who was taking an unnaturally long amount of time to answer the question. Dipper noticed the conflict in his eyes. "Grunkle Ford, please tell me the truth, if I know the truth then I can help prepare for whatever is going to happen." Ford snapped back to reality, looking into Dipper's eyes.  
"What brought this about?" He asked worriedly.  
"What do you mean?" Dipper questioned.  
"It's been two-thirds of a year since we defeated Bill and brought an end to weirdmageddon and you haven't mentioned Bill once, now all of a sudden you're asking me if he could return. But you're not just asking, I can tell that you're scared. So why? Why are you suddenly so scared that Bill might return?" Dipper hesitated, Ford was right. Now was as good a time to tell him as any.  
"I never said anything before because Mabel asked me not to tell anyone, I guess she didn't want anyone to worry about her, but Bill never really 'left' her." Dipper started to explain, he could have just skipped to the important part but he knew that if there was any meaning behind any of this, it would be Ford. "She has nightmares about him, and she has random panic attacks during the day, sometimes all it takes is for her to see a triangle and she goes from being her usual bubbly self to a terrified, shaking mess. She's been diagnosed with anxiety and the school thinks that the stress of having to move up to high school is what caused it." Ford listened closely to Dipper's story, taking in every detail. "Then today when we went out adventuring, it happened again, Mabel found a strange statue in a clearing in the forest and she freaked! It was a statue of Bill. Usually, when she freaks I just put it down to the fact that Bill had left her with some deep emotional scars but now I'm not so sure. The statue was just a statue but there was just something about it that made me feel uneasy." Dipper looked up to Ford as he finished his story. For a short while, Ford sat in silence, processing every detail of the story Dipper had just told him.  
"Dipper, you have my word that I won't tell anyone about Mabel's..." He hesitated, trying to find a way to describe it without being offensive in any way. "..scars, the secret is safe with me and then she never has to know that you ever told me. However, I need you to show me this statue, do you think that you'd be able to lead me to it?" He asked. Dipper nodded.  
"Yeah, I could take you there no problem." He replied.  
"Good, but let's do that tomorrow," Stan suggested. "You've had a long day, dinner's nearly ready and you need to get some rest."  
"Ok Grunkle Ford," Dipper said, as much as he wanted to hear Ford's opinions he understood that going into something as potentially dangerous as this would need him to be fully functional. "But you never answered my question," Dipper added, "Do you think Bill could come back?"  
"How about we go for dinner now and I'll tell you when we set off tomorrow," Ford suggested. That would give him a little extra time to think about what he would tell Dipper.  
"Ok..." Dipper agreed, despite his flared curiosity. "But, what about Mabel? I don't feel comfortable taking her there again, just in case."  
"Yes, you're right, I don't think it would be sensible to bring her along," Ford said in agreement. "We'll leave really early in the morning, while she's still asleep. That way we'll be back sooner and it'll avoid any chance that she might ask to come along." Dipper nodded. A moment passed and the two stood up before heading back up to the Mystery Shack.

* * *

After food, the twins went up to the attic. They both changed then headed to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Mabel was still down, she felt silly and embarrassed about earlier but more than anything, she felt guilty. She imagined how she would feel if she saw Dipper freak out as badly as she did and the thought almost destroyed her. Did he go through that every time she freaked? Even if he didn't he still spent the time and effort to pull her out of it, every single time. He truly was the best brother in the entire world and she didn't deserve him. Dipper was aware that Mabel still wasn't herself, everyone in the building could probably tell that something was up with her. Dipper thought for a moment before having an idea. "Hey Mabel, want to have a toothbrush race?" Mabel shrugged in response. Dipper didn't push the topic and the two finished brushing their teeth in silence. They returned to the attic and Mabel flopped onto her bed. Dipper also got into his bed, he wished there was something he could do for Mabel, but right now he couldn't think of anything. "Goodnight Mabel." He said laying his head on his pillow. "Night Dipper," Mabel replied. Dipper closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. Mabel, on the other hand, just curled up into a ball under her cover and cried herself to sleep. "I'm sorry Dipper," were the last words she whispered to herself before finally falling asleep.

Dipper slowly woke in response to a noise in the room. He followed the noise with his eyes, pinning it to Mabel who was tossing and turning in her sleep, she was mumbling, most of what she said was inaudible but every now and then a word would make sense. However, the word she seemed to be saying the most was 'Dipper'.

* * *

Mabel found herself within a metal cage. She tried to break out but couldn't. After a while, she gave up. She slid down to the floor, sitting with her back against the cage breathing heavily. "Ah, finally, Pinetree!" Mabel spun around and was on her feet faster than humanly possible as she heard the voice, it was Bill, it had to be, and if he was addressing 'Pinetree' then it meant Dipper must be here too! As Mabel looked through the bars again she saw exactly what she was expecting to see. Bill was floating in the air and looking down towards Dipper, who looked up at him.  
"Name your price!" Dipper demanded as he stared up at the demon.  
"For what?" Bill asked, with his fake 'I have no idea what you're talking about' voice.  
"My sister!" Dipper said coldly. "I'll give you anything, just let her go and leave her alone!"  
"What makes you say that I have her?" Bill taunted.  
"Just cut the crap already Bill," Dipper shouted.  
"Oooh, someone's getting a little feisty!" Bill laughed. "Ok, ok, Pinetree. I'll cut you a deal. I'll release your sister, entirely unharmed and won't ever directly interfere with her again." Bill announced.  
"Aaaand...?" Dipper questioned, waiting for the demon to name his price.  
"And in return I want you to give me your life!" Bill demanded. He extended his hand towards Dipper, as he did a blue flame ignited engulfing Bill's hand.  
"Don't do it Dipper!" Mabel shouted desperately, but Dipper didn't seem to hear her.  
"You promise you'll let her go?" Dipper asked.  
"Look, kid, these deals aren't for nothing, I physically can't break my side of a deal unless the deal is called off or you fail to uphold your side of the deal."  
"And all you want is my life?" Dipper asked quietly.  
"Yep, that's all I want kiddo!" Bill declared.  
"Dipper, please don't! Look I'm fine!" Mabel screamed desperately, tears stinging her eyes and gliding down her cheeks.  
"I'll do it!" Dipper said, still seeming to be completely unaware of Mabel.  
"DIPPER!" Mabel cried at the top of her voice. But in the end, there was nothing she could do apart from watch helplessly as Dipper reached out and shook Bill's hand. The Blue flames engulfed both their hands as the contract was sealed.  
"Pleasure doing business with you Pinetree!" Bill announced giddily. He clicked his fingers, as he did the cage around Mabel evaporated. "Now that I've kept my half of the deal, it's time you keep yours!" Bill said demonically changing from his usual yellow colour to red. Dipper closed his eyes, waiting for whatever Bill was about to do.  
"NO!" Mabel screamed, charging towards her brother.  
"Mabel?" Dipper asked, quickly opening his eyes and looking in the direction of Mabel's voice. His eyes lit up for a moment as he saw her running towards him but then, a beam of blue light hit him in the chest and he fell backwards, hitting the floor with a thud. Bill returned to his usual yellow hue, laughing maniacally.  
Mabel screamed as the blow collided with her brother, she felt a sharp pain in her chest, as if the attack had hit her as well. Despite the pain she continued to run, falling to her knees by her brother's side. She looked down towards him, the wound in his chest was bad. "It's ok Dipper," she said, "You're going to be ok!" She was trying to convince herself as much as she was trying to convince Dipper, if not more so. Despite her words, her tears continued to fall, most of them landing on Dipper's face. Dipper opened his eyes, looking up at Mabel. He smiled up at her.  
"It was worth it." is all he said, gazing up at his sister lovingly.  
"Dipper..." Mabel whimpered, her voice failing her. Dipper reached up to wipe her tears away.  
"Please don't cry, I can't bear to see you sad." He said. Then, his arm fell back to his side and Mabel watched in horror as the life left his eyes.  
"Dipper?" Mabel asked, her stomach knotting and her heart audibly shattering. She scrunched her eyes shut and hugged Dipper's lifeless body tightly against her chest.

* * *

"Mabel." Upon hearing Dipper's voice, Mabel's eyes shot open. She was back in the attic at the Mystery Shack. She was lying on her bed and sitting on the edge of her bed, looking down at her was Dipper, he had a concerned expression plastered on his face. Mabel's eyes and cheeks were moist and her pillow was damp from her tears. Before he had a chance to react, Mabel threw her arms around Dipper, holding him tight. Dipper hesitated, shocked by the sudden affection, but after a moment, he wrapped his arms around his sister, holding her in a loving embrace. They held the hug in silence for a few minutes before Dipper pulled away so he could ask her a question. "What's wrong Mabes?" He asked softly. Mabel looked up at him, then averted her gaze to look at her hands. "You can tell me." He added. Mabel looked up at him again. "Y-you were... gone." Mabel managed to say, tears once again starting to glide down her face. "A-and, you weren't coming back..." He voice became squeaky towards the end before completely vanishing. Dipper picked up a blanket, wrapping it around them both. He then wrapped his arms around his crying sister. "It was just a dream, Mabel." He said softly "You know I'd never let that happen!"  
"Do you promise?" Mabel asked.  
"Yes, I promise!" Dipper said, giving her a small squeeze. Mabel leant against hipper, burying her face in his chest. Dipper always had a way of calming her down, better than anyone else. Everything about him, his smell, the rhythm of his heartbeat, everything just made her feel at ease. He had the same effect on her as a parent would have, he was Mabel's source of comfort. Gradually Mabel drifted off to sleep, still snuggled up to her brother.

* * *

 **Well, this chapter is a little longer than the others, I have proof read it, as I have every other chapter, but my proof reading skills are shocking and I wrote a huge chunk of this chapter with tears in my eyes. Despite that fact that it was just a dream, writing this chapter was really emotionally challenging! Whew! I also wanted to say that I'm super excited! This story has 1 Follower, 2 lovely reviews and 4 favourites! I know that doesn't seem like a lot, but to me, it means the world! Anything I do I do with one goal in mind, if it makes one person smile, cry or just makes someone's day even a tiny bit better, then I've accomplished something. So the fact that some who've read this enjoyed it enough to make the effort to add it to their favourite/follow lists and to leave a small review makes me feel like I've succeeded!**

 **Ah! Sorry, writing all of that sad stuff made me write all the sappy thoughts currently going through my mind!  
Thank you for reading! I love you all!  
*Hugs***


	6. Chapter 6 - The Statue

Mabel slowly woke up, she felt so much better than she had felt yesterday. She was snuggly in bed, her cover was covering her up to her shoulders and there was a new pillow on her bed. "Awww Dipper..." She said, blushing to herself. She really didn't deserve him. Mabel sat up and looked over to Dipper's bed, it was empty. Maybe he was up already? Mabel slipped out of bed and made her way downstairs. It must've been rather late as she could hear the sound of visitors and Soos giving tours. She walked into the living room, the only person there appeared to be Stan who looked at her the moment she entered the room. "Good afternoon sleepy head." He said as she entered the room. "Good morning Grunkle Stan" she replied with a smile. After a moment she asked a question. "Grunkle Stan, do you know where Dipper is?"  
"Oh yeah, he went out with my brother, don't know where though."  
"Oh... ok," Mabel said, she was obviously disappointed. She had been expecting this to happen, Dipper spending all of his time with Ford, but she had hoped that she'd at least have had a week with him before it started to happen! Mabel tried to shake the thoughts, realising how selfish she was being, it was Dipper's life, and he could do whatever he wanted with whoever he wanted. Still...  
"Look kiddo, why don't you tell me what's bothering you?" Stan asked. "You haven't been yourself lately, what's wrong?"

* * *

"So, Bill? What do you think? Could he come back?" Dipper and Ford were walking through the trees in the forest travelling further and further away from the shack, Dipper looked up at his Grunkle expectantly, waiting for an answer.  
"Dipper," Ford said with a sigh. "I thought about this a lot last night, and I've decided to tell you the truth. You may not like what you hear, but it's what I honestly think about the whole situation."  
"Thank you, Grunkle Ford!" Dipper said with a smile. "I know I can handle it, no matter what it is!"  
"Well..." Ford said after a moments pause. "We defeated Bill by trapping him inside Stanley's mind and then..." Ford faltered, the memory of what he did to his brother that day still didn't sit well with him. "...a-and then we erased Stanley's Mind."  
"Yeah..." Dipper replied gently, hearing Ford's pain in his voice.  
"Well, the plan was seamless and should have worked perfectly," Ford added but his voice suggested that he had more to say.  
"Buuut?" Dipper asked.  
"But it didn't. Slowly but surely, Stanley recovered his memories and his mind and now, he's back to his grumpy old self."  
"Wait! You don't mean..." Dipper exclaimed, starting to understand what Ford was getting at.  
"Yes Dipper, I'm afraid I do. If Stanley managed to recover his memories, then it's possible that Bill may still be alive. It could take him years to recover any sort of consciousness or form but I can't say for sure. All I know is that there's a possibility he survived, and as long as there's a possibility, no one I care about is safe. Therefore, I must do everything I can to protect those I love!"

They travelled the rest of the way in almost complete silence, both of them deep in thought for most of the time. After a short while Dipper Broke the silence. "We're here!" He announced, picking up the pace a little as he headed towards the layer of trees between them and the clearing. A few moments later, the two of them emerged into the clearing, the statue stood exactly where it was yesterday, still covered in vegetation. "That's it!" Dipper announced, pointing towards the clump of ivy and weeds. Without a word, Stanford approached the statue, lifting the plants so that he could get a better look at it. After a quick glance, Ford let go of the plants, allowing them to flop back to their original positions. He then took off his bag and rummaged around in it for a second before pulling out a machete. He then used the blade to remove most of the hanging vegetation from the statue to that they could examine it properly.  
"I must say, the craftsmanship is flawless, truly impressive," Ford stated as he examined the stone sculpture. "What's worrying is who would be deranged enough to carve something like this, and why?" Dipper walked around the statue, this was the first time he could see the entire thing. Ford's comment was absolutely correct, there wasn't a single blemish or mistake anywhere on the statue, save for the moss that clung to its stone surface.  
"So, what do you think Grunkle Ford?" Dipper asked, desperate to get his Grunkle's opinion on the whole affair.  
"If I had to take a guess, I'd say someone created it as some representation of Bill so that they could worship him, though I can't say for sure."  
"Who would want to worship Bill?" Dipper asked in disbelief.  
"The world is a strange place, Dipper," Ford replied. He rummaged around in his bag again pulling out numerous tools and devices. "Let's have a closer look," He said more to himself than to Dipper.

* * *

Stan placed a bowl of cereal in front of Mabel. He looked at her as she started to eat, worry and concern showing on his face. "So, what's bothering you kiddo?" Stan asked, his rough voice sounded smoother than usual and his usual cold facade had completely vanished. Mabel hesitated, she wanted to say that she was totally fine but she knew that she was terrible at lying to her family. "I..." She paused again, thinking for a moment before deciding that she should tell her Grunkle the truth. "I keep having dreams about Bill..." She said quietly, "he scares me, and I'm scared that he might hurt someone..." Her thoughts wandered to her dream that she had last night. She fixated her gaze on her bowl, she thought that Stan might think that she was just being childish or over dramatic. There was a short, uncomfortable silence until Stan moved over to Mabel and wrapped his arms around her. "Look Kid..." He began. "...You and your brother have been through far more than you should have been through, especially at the age of twelve. I can't make your dreams go away, but I'm always here if you need to talk or anything."  
"Thanks, Grunkle Stan," Mabel said  
"Yeah, whatever, just finish your breakfast," Stan replied. He loved both Mabel and Dipper to the ends of the earth and he would do anything for either of them, but he always felt like he had a special bond with Mabel, much like how Ford had a special bond with Dipper. That's not to say that Mabel was his favourite, just that he shared something with her, something different to what he shared with Dipper.  
"Hey, Grunkle Stan...?" Mabel asked  
"Yeah?" Stan replied.  
"Would you help me with something?"

* * *

Ford held a chisel to the statue, continually banging the blunt end with a hammer in an attempt to break a piece off. After much hammering, the chisel broke. "Fascinating..." He mumbled to himself.  
"What is it?" Dipper asked.  
"The statue has been carved from some stone or other material strong enough to withstand hardened steel..." Ford replied thoughtfully. "There's barely even a scratch!" He added, examining where the sharp edge of the chisel had made contact with the statue.  
"But if it's strong enough to break a chisel, then how was it sculpted?" Dipper questioned.  
"That's a good question!" Ford said, rummaging around in his bag once again. "There's one more thing I can try, otherwise, we'll have to come back some other time with stronger tools," Ford explained. He pulled out a small gun like device from his bag.  
"What is that?" Dipper asked curiously  
"Oh, it's just something I picked up on my travels," Ford replied. "It's a laser designed to effortlessly cut through stone, allowing them to sculpt even the hardest of rocks. Having said that, this is the cheaper model so..." Ford shrugged, aiming the laser at the statue. There was a moment of silence before he pulled the trigger. The laser made a soft humming noise and a red beam shot from it towards the statue. Ford shut off the laser and inspected the statue. "There's a tiny fracture on the surface," He announced. "But to get a chunk big enough to analyse I'm going to need something more intense." He packed up his things and looked at Dipper. "I think we should head back, I'll see what I can do in the lab and then we'll return," Ford suggested.  
"Ok, Grunkle Ford," Dipper replied and the two headed off back towards the shack.

* * *

Dipper walked into the Mystery Shack, closely followed by Ford, it was still quite early so the gift shop was likely still open so they'd have to wait until later to go down to the lab.  
"So, what've my two favourite nerds been up to?" Mabel asked, seemingly appearing from nowhere. Usually, Dipper would have been irritated by the title of 'nerd' but he was learning to embrace it.  
"We uh, we just..." Dipper fumbled for a moment, trying to think of what to say. If, at all possible, he didn't want to even approach the subject of Bill or the statue.  
"I just took Dipper to Crash Site Omega" Ford explained calmly.  
"Crash site Omega?" Mabel asked curiously.  
"Ah yes, I forgot I've yet to tell you about the Crash Site!" Ford said. "I must take you there some time, it's one hell of an adventure and the view is stunning!"  
"Ok! It's a date!" Mabel replied enthusiastically. "Well, not a date like a date date, more like a date as in-" She tried desperately to explain what she had meant.  
"Don't worry!" Ford said with a chuckle. "I know what you mean."  
"So, what have you been up to today, Mabel?" Dipper asked. He felt a little bad for leaving her at the shack, especially after last night.  
"Me and Grunkle Stan have been working on something!" Mabel said proudly, there was a glint in her eye and a hint of excitement in her voice.  
"Really? And what might that be?" Ford asked, resisting his instinctive urge to correct Mabel's wording.  
"Follow me and I'll show you!" Mabel answered. Without giving either of them a moment to think about it, Mabel grabbed Ford's and Dipper's hands and dragged them off to the living room. The room in question was covered in scraps of paper and in the middle of the room sat a board with some plastic items strewn across it.  
"What's all this... for?..." Dipper trailed off as something caught his attention. Among the carnage was a small plastic object, about the size of an acorn. It had numerous smooth sides, each of which showed a different number. "Is that a-?"  
"Yep!" Mabel answered Dipper's question before he'd even had a chance to finish it. "We tried our best to make you guys a Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons campaign, we know it's like both of your favourite game ever! It may not be perfect, we're still getting out heads around the rules, but we hope it's ok..." Mabel gradually grew quieter as she spoke, worried that they might've done something wrong.  
"You did this for us?" Dipper asked in disbelief. "I thought you hated this game!"  
"So did I..." Mabel replied. "But, when you get past the whole Maths part, it's actually alright. Besides, remember who beat ugly Gandalf, and he was cheating too!"  
"You mean Probabilator?" Dipper asked.  
"Yeah! That guy!" Mabel replied enthusiastically.  
"So, are you going to just stand there and talk about it all day, or are we going to get this over with?" Stan asked, practically emerging from the chaos of papers. They all sat on the floor around the board, dipper reached for the dice and gave it a roll.

* * *

The moon slowly peeked out from beyond the horizon. It crawled up the sky, casting eerie shadows through the trees. It's ghostly light illuminated a small clearing in which stood a particular statue. As the statue was illuminated by the light of the moon a very very faint cracking sound could be heard and the tiny fracture left by Ford's laser earlier that day slowly started to grow, extending further and further across the statue's cold, stone surface.

* * *

 **So, this chapter took far longer to write than I expected, I've changed the bit where Ford and Dipper return home so many times because I wasn't quite happy with it, but now I think it's ok, at least I hope it is!  
Thank you again for reading! Hopefully see you soon!**


	7. Chapter 7 - Too Far

Dipper sat up in his bed, he'd been awake for a short while now and finally his boredom had got the best of him. He didn't know what made him wake up, he couldn't remember any of his dreams and the shack had been almost dead silent. He glanced over at Mabel who was fast asleep. He smiled, it was nice to see her getting some decent rest. Dipper got out of bed and crossed the room, he pulled Mabel's cover over her as it had slipped off her during the night, and planted a kiss on her forehead. Dipper had always felt an instinctive urge to protect Mabel, maybe she felt it towards him as well, maybe she didn't. Dipper crept across the room making sure not to wake his sister then silently slipped through the door, making his way downstairs.

Dipper walked through the living room, the remains of their Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons game were still scattered throughout the room. He carefully avoided standing on anything and made his way to where he and Ford had left their bags before the game began. He rummaged around in one of the bags and pulled out a chocolate bar. He'd taken it with him when they went to the statue but had never actually eaten it so as he was up and a little peckish he decided he might as well have it now. He pulled the wrapper off, placing it back in the bag. He'd put it in the bin tomorrow, it was so dark he couldn't even read the wrapper, so fumbling around trying to find the bin in the dark wasn't really his idea of fun. Sure, he could turn the light on but for some reason, he decided that it was best to leave the lights off, just in case. He looked down at the game as he took a bit from the chocolate. It had easily been the best game of Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons that he had ever played in his life, for many reasons. Sure, it hadn't been the most 'correct' or even the most advanced campaign that he'd ever played, but it was by far the most interesting! The weird and wonderful thing that Mabel and Stan had come up with had ranged throughout the game from adorable to funny to outright terrifying. But even more than that, the campaign held a special place in his heart because it was created by Mabel and Stan. Neither of them had ever had even the slightest amount of interest in the game, yet they sat down and spent most of their day learning the rules and how the game worked so that they could make a campaign so that they could play with him and Ford when they got back. After a while Dipper stood up, he walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water before heading back upstairs.

As Dipper tried to enter the attic, he tripped over something that had been left on the floor, he couldn't see what it was, not that it mattered, he was still falling anyway. He hit the floor with a thump closely followed by his glass of water which smashed as it collided with the old, wooden planks, sending water and shards of glass everywhere. The sound woke Mabel and she instantly rushed to her brother's side. "Dipper, are you ok?" She asked worriedly, she was on high alert, it was as if she'd never been asleep at all, but that was probably just due to the shot of adrenaline her body gave her when she realised that Dipper could be hurt.  
"Yeah, I'm fine!" Dipper snapped, he was suddenly really angry with himself for being such a clutz and waking his sister, but also with Mabel for waking up and for being so up in his face.  
"Do you need any help?" Mabel offered, ignoring how he'd snapped at her. "I could get you another gla-" She was cut off by Dipper before she could finish.  
"Dammit Mabel, I said I was fine!" Dipper shouted.  
"O-ok..." Mabel said, slowly backing away from her brother. She was confused, she knew he didn't like the feeling of being vulnerable, that he always wanted to be able to prove himself and that he often acted strangely when he was running low on sleep, but his sudden temper had caught her completely off guard.  
"I am capable of taking care of myself you know!" Dipper informed her as he stood up and stared down at her. "Or do you just think that I'm weak and pathetic? Look, Mabel, I don't need you to rush to my side every time I stub my toe or trip over, I'm capable of taking care of myself!"  
"I never thought that you weren't..." Mabel replied timidly, slowly getting up to her feet. Dipper was starting to scare her, what had come over him?  
"Don't lie Mabel, you've been so caught up if your 'Alpha Twin' shit that you've forgotten that we're twins! Do you know what that means? It means we're the same age! So get off your high horse for once!" Mabel didn't know how to respond, Dipper never swore, she'd only ever seen him swear once or twice, and every time he was talking to someone he hated.  
"Dip-" Mabel was about to speak but was swiftly cut off.  
"No!" Dipper shouted over Mabel. Then, before either of them could react, he slapped her. There was a moment of silence, the sound of Dipper's hand colliding with Mabel's cheek stayed in the air for a moment, ringing in their ears. Mabel clutched her cheek, her eyes watering, partially from the stinging the slap had left on her cheek, and part from the stinging in her chest. Had she pushed him to the point where he hated her already?  
"I-I guess I'll leave then..." Mabel whispered, trying not to let her pain show through her voice. She grabbed her backpack and walked out of the room. Dipper watched her leave before climbing into bed.

* * *

Mabel walked away from the mystery shack, she needed some space to clear her mind and just mull everything over. Besides, there was no way she was going back to sleep now. She's pulled on one of her sweaters a skirt, socks, shoes and then she just left. The throbbing in her cheek was a persistent reminder of what had just happened. With each step, she became increasingly aware of a sharp pain in her knee she looked down to see a gash in her knee which was dripping blood down her leg, how had she not noticed it before? She must have knelt on a shard of glass while trying to help Dipper. She knew that she should probably cover it with something but she didn't have anything suitable with her, plus she loved the sweater that she was wearing too much to risk it being stained with her blood, it was the one with a shooting star on the front. She could tend to her wound once she returned to the shack, she wasn't intending to be out for long, just long enough to calm down a little, then she'd probably curl up and fall asleep on the chair in the living room. After a while, Mabel stopped walking. She sat down on a rock, buried her face in her hands and cried.

How long she stayed like that, she couldn't tell. Minutes? Hours? Either way, she only looked up because she's run out of tears to cry. She sniffed and thought back on what had happened. Dipper had been acting really weird, but maybe it was just because he'd grown to hate her. But still, the only time she'd ever seen him act anything like this was when... Mabel stood up suddenly as a feeling of dread watched over her. It couldn't be, could it? Bill was dead, right? And even if he wasn't, Dipper wouldn't have made any kind of deal with him, let alone allow him to use his body, right? But still, it would explain everything, the anger, the violence, even why he fell over in the first place, Bill never did seem to quite get the hand of controlling other people's bodies. Even if that's not what happened, Mabel had to be sure, there was a chance that Dipper was in danger and she'd just spent the past however long crying to herself like a baby! She'd been so selfish! "I'm sorry Dipper..." She mumbled to herself before grabbing her bag and sprinting in the direction of the Mystery Shack. She had to be quick, every second she took was one more second that Dipper could be in trouble.

Mabel ran and ran, not even stopping for breath. It was really dark and almost impossible to see, but she wasn't going to let that stop her. She ran faster than she'd ever run before until 'Smack!' Something hard smashed into her forehead, knocking her to the floor. She felt dazed and had no control over her body. A few moments later she lost her grasp on consciousness and passed out.

* * *

"Morning Mabel!" Dipper said cheerily as he sat up, stretching and letting out a yawn. When there was no reply he looked over to Mabel's bed, she was usually up before him so the silence made him feel a little uneasy. Her cover was a mess and she was nowhere to be seen. 'Maybe she went downstairs already?' Dipper thought to himself. He was about to get out of bed when he noticed the mess on the floor. He remembered tripping over on his way back into the room. His eyes followed the water towards where he'd fallen, as he did the water grew darker and darker until he spotted something that made his stomach turn. One of the shards was coated red with blood and the surrounding water was also dyed the same red hue. He knew that he hadn't cut himself, but checked over his body anyway. He was completely fine, not a scratch on him. That must mean... "Mabel!" He shouted, launching himself out of bed and over the glass. He safely landed by the door, having lept over all of the glass. He bolted downstairs into the living room where Stan was sat watching the TV, surrounded by the remains of Dungeons, Dungeons and More Dungeons. "Grunkle Stan, have you seen Mabel?" Dipper asked worriedly.  
"No, I assumed she was still in bed," Stan replied casually, but when he saw the look on Dipper's face he started to become concerned. Dipper thought back to last night, he couldn't remember what had happened after he tripped. He thought hard, and then it hit him like a truck. "Oh my god!" He exclaimed.  
"What is it, kid?" Stan asked, looking at Dipper.  
"We need to go find Mabel!" Dipper replied. "This is all my fault!"

* * *

 **I don't really have anything to add to this one, nothing that I can add without giving spoilers anyway, so I won't other than my usual thanks!  
So once again, thankyou for reading!**


	8. Chapter 8 - Demon From the Stone

"Dipper, calm down," Ford spoke gently. The two of them were sitting in the kitchen, Ford's expression was calm but serious, Dipper, on the other hand, was freaking out.  
"But what if we can't find her? What if-" He was cut off by Ford.  
"Stan, Soos and Melody are looking for her now and we can join them as soon as we're done here." His tone was reassuring yet still focused.  
"I-I can't, you'll hate me..." Dipper mumbled.  
"Dipper, nothing you say will ever make me hate you," Ford said softly. "But anything you can remember could be useful in our search," He explained.  
"O-ok..." Dipper finally submitted though each word was agonising for him to say, no matter what Ford had said, Dipper was still convinced that he would hate him, but if it could help them find Mabel, then it was worth it. "I-I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep, s-so I came downstairs. I grabbed some chocolate from my bag and got myself a glass of water..." Dipper hesitated, he really didn't want to continue but he knew he had to. He took a deep breath before carrying on. "I went back upstairs and fell over, and... and... Mabel, Mabel tried to help me. I don't know why, but for some reason, I lashed out at her... I hit her, Grunkle Ford..." Dipper said his pain evident in his voice, tears started to spill down his cheeks. "I...I h-hit... her..." He repeated in disbelief, he was obviously disgusted with himself. He hung his head, ready for Ford to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he did the last thing Dipper was expecting, he wrapped his arms around Dipper, squeezing him gently.  
"It's ok Dipper..." He said gently, "We'll find her, I promise!" Ford stood back, holding Dipper's shoulders, he smiled down at his nephew. "I just need to grab my bag." Ford left the kitchen, leaving Dipper to his thoughts. Dipper looked at his hands, still unable to comprehend what he'd done. Ford re entered the kitchen, he was holding his bag in one hand and his other hand was clenched in a fist, he was holding something tight. "Dipper?" He asked  
"Y-yes Grunkle Ford."  
"Last night, did you see which chocolate bar you ate?"  
"Uh, n-not really, it was too dark, I just grabbed the one from my bag, why?"  
"I think you may have had the wrong bag," Ford replied.  
"Sorry Grunkle Ford, you can have my chocolate bar to make up for it!"  
"No, don't worry Dipper, it's just I think I know why you lashed out last night."  
"You do?" Dipper seemed confused but intrigued at the same time. Ford walked over to the table, placing his bag on top of it.  
"I believe you ate this." He said showing Dipper what had been in his closed hand, it was a chocolate wrapper. The wrapper was red with a small yellow strip to the right, across it white writing read 'Yummy Yums'. "These are a type of chocolate I picked up on my travels while I was trapped on the other side of that portal," Ford explained. "They contain an ingredient known as purgenol."  
"Purgenol?" Dipper asked.  
"Yes, Purgenol is a strange substance that causes whoever consumes it to enter a violent rage, in fact, it's lucky that all you did was hit your sister," Ford replied. Dipper was equally scared and relieved. He was scared due to the realisation that he could have caused far more harm to Mabel than he had but relieved in knowing that it wasn't entirely his fault.  
"Uh, Grunkle Ford?" Dipper questioned.  
"Yes, Dipper?" Ford replied.  
"Can we go and help look for Mabel now?"  
"Yes, let's go!"

* * *

"Mabel!" Stan called, his voice echoing through the trees. "Mabel!" There was no reply. Stan had started to worry, the kids had been on his watch, if anything happened to her, he would never forgive himself. In the distance, he could hear Soos' and Melody's voices also calling his niece's name. They were going to find her, they had to find her! Soon, Stan heard two new voices joining in the search for Mabel, those voices belonged to his brother, Ford and his Nephew, Dipper. Stan called Mabel's name again pressing on through the trees.

* * *

"Mabel!" Dipper shouted at the top of his voice. He walked through the trees scanning every inch of the surroundings with his eyes, Ford was close behind him. Dipper soon realised that they were heading in the direction of the clearing, and it wasn't too long before they arrived at the resting place of that creepy statue. Dipper walked into the clearing, calling out his sister's name. "Mab-" His voice suddenly died as he saw something that scared him more than it should have. "Grunkle Ford..." He said quietly.  
"What is it?" Ford asked, though he soon knew the answer. The statue that had once occupied the space in the clearing was nowhere to be seen, not only that but there was no trace of it either, no dead patch in the grass, no nothing.  
"Where did it go?" Dipper asked, concern on his face.  
"I don't know..." Ford said, equally as concerned as his nephew.  
"Are you looking for me?" A voice asked. A voice that sent chills down both Ford's and Dipper's spines.

* * *

"Mabel!" Stan's calls were getting more and more desperate by the minute, what had happened to her? Stan's mind started to taunt him with images of Mabel cold and afraid, lost somewhere in the trees, or of her lying d- "No!" Stan shook the images from his head, the thought of the bubbly, excitable girl that he loved so dearly in a state like that was heartbreaking. He would find her if he had to stay out all night, every night for the next month he would! "I will find you!" He promised, he knew that Mabel wasn't there to hear him, but he'd never meant anything so much in his life.

* * *

"Y'know, It's nice to see you both again, it's been so long!" Both Ford and Dipper turned slowly to face the owner of the voice, Bill. "I guess I should be thanking you, Sixer!" Bill chuckled, "I mean, your laser is the thing that broke me out of that prison!"  
"Bill, what do you want?"  
"Oh you know, just the usual. I wanted to see my good old pals! I hear you're looking for someone." Bill said, using an obviously fake friendly tone.  
"Mabel!" Dipper exclaimed. "What have you done with her!?"  
"Oh, such accusations!" Bill said, feigning a hurt tone. "You wound me with your words Pinetree!" Bill laughed. "Anyway, I must dash, ta ta!" and with that, Bill was gone. Dipper punched a tree out of frustration and ran off into the trees, in Bill's general direction.  
"Dipper!" Ford called, chasing his nephew, but Dipper was much faster than him and soon, Ford lost him.

* * *

Mabel woke up, her head was pounding and her knee was still painful as well. She looked around, slowly taking in her surroundings. She was in a cage, in a dark place that seemed familiar, but Mabel couldn't quite figure out when she'd been here before. She stood up trying to find a way out of the imprisonment of the cold metal bars. As she was struggling against the confinements of the cage it hit her. She remembered when she'd been here before, it was in her dream the other night. Suddenly she started to panic. She tried to calm herself down, it was ok, everything was ok as long as Dipper stayed away.

* * *

Dipper ran as fast as his legs would carry him, he could still just see Bill through the trees. The continued on for what seemed like forever. Eventually, Bill glided out of the woods and into the mouth of a cave. Dipper darted after him. Dipper clambered into the cave, following the demon that he'd grown to despise, but he knew that he had Mabel and he was going to get her back!

* * *

 **This is, I think, one of the shortest chapters so far, and it's a little messy too, sorry about that. I threw in a little Stanchez reference for those of you who are also fans of Rick and Morty! I have a warning, from now things may grow a little darker.  
Once again, thank you so much for reading, especially this far! That means you've read like, just over 13,000 words of my awful writing, it means more than I can put into words, thank you!**


	9. Chapter 9 - Felled

Dipper cautiously walked into the cave. It was dark and he didn't have anything on him that would emit a light source. The entrance of the cave led into a long, narrow, dark corridor. A breeze blew through the corridor as if the air was desperate to escape whatever waited within the bowels of the cave. The breeze chilled Dipper to the bone, but that wasn't enough to stop him. He pressed on, moving forwards toward whatever awaited him within the cave.

* * *

Wendy had arrived at the Mystery Shack for her shift, but as she arrived she noticed that it was completely deserted. There was no sign of the Pines family, or, well, anyone. Fearing the worst, she hopped into the golf cart that was parked round the back of the shack. Generally, she'd jump at the opportunity to skive off a day at work but, today she had a feeling that something was wrong. Besides, she was starting to enjoy her work, it allowed her to spend more time with the Pines, as well as Soos and Melody, who were all on her list of her favourite people. She started the cart, turned it around, and sped off. She flew through the trees, keeping an eye out for a familiar face as she went. As she neared the edge of the forest she thought she heard a voice. She slowed the cart down, bringing it to a stop just outside of the forest. Wendy waited, listening closely. Then, she heard it again. It was a voice she knew all too well, it was Stan. She climbed out of the cart and ran as fast as she could in the direction of Stan's voice.

* * *

Dipper walked for what felt like forever. He had reached the point where he couldn't actually see anything, he was using his hands against the wall to guide him deeper into the cave. Dipper had lost all track of time, how long had he been walking? Minutes? Hours? Days? But now it didn't matter, he could see a warm glow coming from the end of the corridor. He picked up his pace, heading straight towards the light.

* * *

Wendy found what she was looking for. "Stan!" She called rushing over to her former boss. "What's up?" She asked, noticing his distressed expression.  
"We can't find her..." Stan told Wendy, his concern evident in his voice.  
"Who?" Wendy asked worriedly  
"Mabel, she's gone missing," Stan replied sadly.  
"Don't worry!" Wendy said reassuringly. "We'll find her!" Wendy's eyes were filled with determination, they were going to find Mabel, no matter what!

* * *

Dipper emerged into a large opening within the cave. The walls were lined with torches which cast a warm yet unwelcoming glow on the rough, rocky walls of the cave. Dipper moved forwards cautiously, darting his eyes around the room. He was on high alert, ready for anything. He walked past a pillar and something glowing and yellow caught his gaze. He turned to the floating triangle, his rage building up within him. He'd thought long and hard while he was walking along the corridor about how he would confront Bill, but now that he was here, his mind didn't seem to have much of a say, all of his rage was building up within him and he just wanted to let it pour out, but, he had to focus on Mabel. Dipper sighed. "What's your price?" He asked, knowing that there would be one. Bill turned to look at Dipper. He didn't seem shocked by his appearance in the slightest.  
"For what?" The demon asked, his voice held a fake 'I have no idea what you're talking about' tone, but Dipper knew that Bill knew exactly what he wanted.  
"My sister!" Dipper replied coldly. "I'll give you anything, just let her go and leave her alone!"  
"What makes you think that I have her?" Bill asked, taunting Dipper.  
"Just cut the crap!" Dipper shouted, Bill was really grating on him and he didn't have the time or the will power to deal with this right now.  
"Oooh, someone's getting a little feisty!" Bill laughed, after being concealed in stone for almost a year, you had to have a bit of fun, right? "Ok, ok, Pinetree. I'll cut you a deal. I'll release your sister, entirely unharmed and won't ever directly interfere with her again." He announced, choosing his words carefully.  
"Aaaand...?" Dipper questioned, he knew that Bill would want something in exchange for Mabel but what he would want was almost impossible to guess. He waited for the demon to name his price.  
"Aaaaaand in return, I want you to give me your life!" Bill demanded. He extended his hand towards Dipper, a blue flame igniting and engulfing his hand.  
"You promise you'll let her go?" Dipper asked. He didn't trust Bill at all.  
"Look, kid, these deals aren't for nothing, I physically can't break my side of a deal unless the deal is called off or you fail to uphold your side of the deal," Bill replied, "Why do you think I go through the effort of making them in the first place? If I was going to go back on it, I wouldn't bother making the deal in the first place." Every word he spoke was true, he couldn't break a deal, however, luckily for him, he was pretty good at finding loopholes.  
"And all you want is my life?" Dipper asked quietly, he was scared, who wouldn't be? But if it would save Mabel from Bill's clutches, he would do anything.  
"Yep, that's all I want kiddo!" Bill declared. Though he didn't have a mouth as such, if he did, Dipper was sure he'd be smiling right now.  
"I'll do it!" Dipper said slowly. He slowly reached out and shook Bill's hand. The Blue flames engulfed both their hands as the contract was sealed. Dipper snatched back his hand, it didn't hurt but the realisation that he'd just signed his life over to Bill.  
"Pleasure doing business with you Pinetree!" Bill announced giddily as he clicked his fingers. "Now that I've kept my half of the deal, it's time you keep yours!" Bill said demonically, changing from his usual yellow colour to deep red. Dipper closed his eyes, he was terrified, what was Bill going to do to him? Dipper held his breath and his heart practically stopped. He heard a thump, followed by a small clattering sound, then, the pain. There was a sharp, searing pain in his chest, the pain knocked the air from his lungs and caused his airways to close up. Dipper knew that this was the end for him.

* * *

 **So, the dream came true, almost word for word...  
Ah! Why am I getting emotional over this? I'm the one writing it! :P  
Thank you again for reading! Love you all!**


	10. Chapter 10 - Shooting Star

Mabel was leaning against the bars of her cage, now that she was alone and trapped, she had nothing but her thoughts to occupy her. Where was she? Why was she here? Does Bill actually have anything to do with this? Isn't Bill dead? Her mind raced as she tried to piece together as much as she could, at least she managed to find some light in the darkness of her mind. Dipper was safe. He wouldn't be looking for her, he probably hadn't realised that she was missing. The memories of what he'd said to her broke her heart. When she'd promised that Dipper would get sick of her because she'd never leave his side, she hadn't realised that he would get sick of her this soon. Her eyes welled up, she closed them trying to focus on the positives, Dipper would be safe.

"Well well Shooting Star, how's your head?" Mabel's eyes opened and in an instant, she was standing and turned to face the owner of the voice.  
"Bill..." She mumbled, partially angry, partially sad and partially terrified.  
"Long time no see beautiful!" Bill said with a flirtatious tone that caused Mabel to squirm.  
"What do you want with me?" Mabel asked, her fear evident in her voice. "Because no matter what, I'm not making any deals!" She tried to come across as strong and defiant but her terror of the demon before her made that quite hard to pull off.  
"Oh don't worry, Shooting Star, I don't need to make you a deal," Bill informed her.  
"Th-then what do you want?" Mabel asked.  
"You're my bait!" Bill announced.  
"Your bait?" Mabel asked confusedly.  
"Yeah, I have you, so sooner or later Pinetree will come looking for you. It's really him that I want." Bill explained.  
"Why do you want Dipper?" Mabel questioned, worried for her brother.  
"Well, he's much more of a threat to me than you for starters! Pinetree is an intelligent, thoughtful and caring person. I'm actually impressed by the boy's abilities. You, on the other hand, are just a pathetic, selfish, whiny, silly little girl." Though she tried not to show it, Bill's words really hurt Mabel, but they hurt more than they usually would because she knew that he was speaking the truth. Dipper had sacrificed so much for her, as had Stan and Soos and even Ford, and in return, she'd almost killed them with glitter on numerous occasions and she was pretty much the sole reason that weirdmageddon even happened in the first place. She turned away from Bill, looking at the ground. She leant against the bars, sliding down them until she was sitting on the floor.  
"Well, your plan isn't going to work..." She told Bill, her voice betraying her pain. Her tears fell to the floor, splashing onto the cold, hard, rocky surface.  
"Really, what makes you say that Shooting Star?" Bill inquired.  
"Dipper hates me..." Mabel replied. She felt as if a dagger was being thrust into her stomach as she said it, the truth of her statement crushing her. "He won't come looking for me..." She added.  
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure," Bill said knowingly. As if on cue, the faint sound of footsteps could be heard echoing throughout the cave. "Well, it seems I'm needed," Bill announced. "Thank you, Shooting Star, at least now you can say that you were useful for something, killing your brother." With that, Bill left Mabel to her thoughts.

Part of Mabel didn't believe that Dipper was really coming, especially after she'd upset him so much and part of her didn't want to believe that he was coming because if he was, then he would be in danger. Mabel slowly stood up, trying to hold back her tears. The footsteps were drawing nearer, whoever was coming was getting closer. She turned to look through the bars of the cage. She waited, for what felt like an eternity, the footsteps drawing closer and closer until finally, someone appeared. Mabel's heart sunk. It was Dipper.

"What's your price?" Dipper demanded. Mabel started to freak, that's how the conversation had started in her dream, this can't be happening. She was just dreaming again, right?  
"For what?" Bill asked Dipper, using a fake 'I have no idea what you're talking about tone. Mabel pinched herself. She gasped, it had really hurt. She willed herself to wake up, trying to pinch herself again, still nothing but pain.  
"My sister!" Dipper replied to Bill question, his tone cutting and cold.  
"Dipper!" Mabel screamed, she'd given up on trying to wake herself up, and was now willing Dipper to stop what he was doing. She needed him to run, or say something different or at least notice her.  
"What makes you think that I have her?" Bill said, he was obviously taunting Dipper. Mabel's attempt at reaching out to her brother had failed.  
"Just cut the crap!" Dipper shouted at Bill.  
"Dipper! Please!" Mabel shouted again, pleading for Dipper to hear her. He didn't  
"Ooooh, someone's getting feisty. Ok, ok, Pinetree. I'll cut you a deal. I'll release your sister, entirely unharmed and won't ever directly interfere with her again." Bill spoke as if he'd rehearsed the line a hundred times.  
"Aaaand...?" Dipper asked.  
"No, Dipper, please!" Mabel whimpered.  
"Aaaaaand in return, I want you to give me your life!" Bill announced.  
"You promise you'll let her go?" Dipper asked.  
"Look, kid, these deals aren't for nothing, I physically can't break my side of a deal unless the deal is called off or you fail to uphold your side of the dealWhy do you think I go through the effort of making them in the first place? If I was going to go back on it, I wouldn't bother making the deal in the first place." Bill responded, reassuring Dipper that Mabel would be ok.  
"And all you want is my life?" Dipper asked quietly. "No, Dipper..." Mabel pleaded, her tears were drowning out her voice.  
"Yep, that's all I want kiddo!"  
"I'll do it!" Dipper replied. Mabel felt lost, like she was aimlessly wandering through a labyrinth, she couldn't lose Dipper.  
"Pleasure doing business with you Pinetree!" Bill announced giddily as he clicked his fingers. As he clicked, the cage imprisoning Mabel vanished. Mabel wanted to run to Dipper, but she knew that she wouldn't make it in time. She fell to her knees, her hand nudging something that she had hidden tucked under her sweater, supported by the rim of her skirt. Of course!  
"Now that I've kept my half of the deal, it's time you keep yours!" Bill announced, beginning the process of ending Dipper's life. Mabel grabbed the small, useless object with both of her hands. It was shaped like a small gun, a strange hooked projectile was loaded and pointing from the gun's barrel. Bill had been right. Mabel was going to do something useful for once in her life, but Bill had also been wrong, she wasn't going to help kill Dipper, she was going to save him.

Mabel fired, the hooked projectile darted across the room, embedding itself in the wall of the cave opposite her. Moments later Mabel was pulled after it. She practically flew across the room. Her timing had been perfect. Bill fired the strange blue beam towards Dipper just as Mabel crossed in front of him. The beam hit her square in the chest, causing her to let go of the gun. The gun clattered across the floor, travelling all the way to the hook that was embedded in the wall. Mabel fell to the floor with a thud. She tumbled a few times before coming to a stop.

Dipper waited, he expected dying to feel completely different to this. He slowly opened his eyes. Bill was in front of him, seeming furious. Dipper looked down, he was fine, not even a scratch on him. Then what had the pain been, and how was he still alive. Dipper's eyes drifted curiously in the direction from which the strange noises had come, but nothing could have prepared him for what he saw.

Mabel whimpered, to say she was in agony would be a major understatement. She felt as if her lungs were about to collapse at any moment, each breath she took required copious amounts of effort and caused her throat and chest to burn. Her entire body was screaming, as if she was constantly being shocked with electricity. Still, she had to do this. Using all of her strength, she started to lift herself up on all fours. "Grappling Hook!" She said weakly, she was trying to impersonate her usual enthusiastic tone, but her voice was weak and steeped in pain.  
"What!?" Bill screamed. "How dare you, you lille shit!" He didn't get it, how had she managed to get in his way, even more confusing, how was she still alive, that attack should have killed her instantly, well it should have killed Dipper instantly, but she got in the way.  
"I believe... your deal i-...is b-broken..." Mabel announced, forcing the words from her mouth. Her entire body was trembling.  
"Mabel!" Dipper called, looking at his sister with teary eyes.  
"I-I'm sorry Dipper..." Mabel said. "I-I sho..uld have known..." She didn't finish her sentence, but Dipper knew what she was talking about. However, before Dipper could say anything, Bill started to talk.  
"If I'm out of a deal, then so is Pinetree!" he announced. Mabel was still struggling to stay balanced, her body started to glow with a faint golden aura, her hair was fluttering as if it was caught in the wind, but there was no wind.  
"Mabel, why?" Dipper asked, his voice cracking.  
"I've k-kept... m-my promise..." She said, "I-I wasn't letting y-you... g-get out of yours... so... easily..." She struggled to finish the sentence. Dipper glanced at Bill, who was looking at Mabel's glowing form with a look of what Dipper could only describe as fear, no, it wasn't fear, it was more than that, it was terror. Dipper took a step towards his sister. The second he moved, Bill roared. He fired a beam of blue light towards Mabel, it hit her in the stomach, sending her flying across the room. She smashed into a wall before falling to the ground. She lay limp on the floor, her hair was covering her face and the golden aura surrounding her had vanished. Bill sighed, leaving the rushed over to the crumpled form of his sister. He knew she would be ok, she had to be! It was strange, the first thing he noticed was that the shooting star that had once adorned the sweater she was wearing, was gone. It had been burnt away by Bill's attack.

* * *

 **Ahhhhhh! I've had this planned for ages now, but writing it was still difficult! Many tears were shed!  
Though, as my writing skills are awful, it probably wasn't too bad for you guys.  
Thankyou all for reading! This is the tenth chapter, so if you made it this far, you are a legend for putting up with my writing for so long! Thank you so much! I love you guys! Every Favourite, Follow and Review I've recieved means the world to me! Thank you!**


	11. Chapter 11 - A Promise to Keep

Dipper lifted Mabel's hair so that it no longer covered her face. Her cheeks were red and blotchy, it was obvious that she'd been crying for some time, though, she wasn't crying now, there was blood slowly trickling out of the corner of her mouth. Dipper gently picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He was worried, but more than anything, he knew he had to get her back to the shack, if anyone would know what to do, then it would be Ford. He carried Mabel along the long, dark corridor through which he had entered the cave earlier. The journey was surprisingly much shorter on the way out than it had been on the way in.

Dipper emerged from the cave, the fresh air was nice after being cooped up in the damp cave for however long he'd been in there. He walked away from the cave, noticing the mystery shack's golf cart parked on the edge of the trees. Maybe someone was nearby? He made a beeline for the cart, Mabel's limp form still cradled in his arms. When he arrived at the cart he noticed that there was no one with it, he gently lay Mabel down on the seat of the cart before doing a bit of scouting in the nearby area. "Grunkle Stan!" Dipper called, he waited, listening for a response. Nothing. "Grunkle Ford?" He called again, making his way through the people who might've used the cart. Again, there was no response. "Soos!" Nothing. "Melody!" Nothing. "Wendy?" Nothing. Dipper made his way back to the cart, maybe they'd gone back to the shack without it. Either way, he had to get Mabel back, he could apologise later if anyone was using it. He gently sat Mabel up, strapping her in, before sliding onto the seat behind the wheel. He reached to the ignition, sighing with relief to find that the key had been left in there, and started the cart. He wrapped his arm around Mabel, allowing her head to rest against his chest, partially to support her and partially to reassure him that she was still there. He drove quickly yet carefully, making his way back to the shack. He silently thanked Soos for the modifications he'd made to the cart that allowed it to move at much faster speeds than your average golf cart. While he drove he regularly glanced down at Mabel. "You were wrong you know." He told her "You haven't fulfilled your promise, I'm not sick of you yet, not by a long shot. That's how I know you're going to be ok. You never were the one to break a promise." When Dipper had first seen Mabel lying lifelessly on the floor, he had just wanted to cry. But his protective side had kicked in, allowing him to hold back his emotions. But now, he knew that she'd be ok. She had to be.

* * *

Dipper pulled up next to the shack, he didn't bother to park the cart properly or anything like that, but right now he didn't really care. He gently picked up Mabel, taking her inside the building. He carried her to the living room, gently laying her down on the sofa which had been added since Soos took ownership of the Shack. He ran upstairs, grabbed a blanket, ran back downstairs and pulled the blanket over Mabel. She looked just as though she were sleeping, just she was much quieter than when she sleeps. Dipper smiled, thinking of how he would sometimes wake up to hear her mumbling to herself in her sleep, or even singing sometimes. After a pause, Dipper tore himself away from Mabel's side. He had to find Ford.

Dipper rushed outside, clambered onto the golf cart and sped off into the thick trees. He kept his eyes peeled and called for his Grunkles, shouting at the top of his voice. "Grunkle Ford! Grunkle Stan!" For a short while, there was no reply. But then he heard a voice in the distance.  
"Dipper?" Dipper sped off in the direction of the voice as fast as he could. The voice had been too quiet to identify, but he didn't care. He burst through the trees, coming across a small group of people, all of which turned to face him as he arrived, their faces lighting up as they realised it was him. "Dipper, we were so worried!" Ford said walking over to him. Ford was accompanied by Stan, and Wendy. They'd all grouped up to discuss a plan to find both Dipper and Mabel.  
"I found Mabel," Dipper announced. "But she needs help." Everyone's faces lit up but then were quickly overcome by concern. Everyone clambered onto the golf cart, it was a tight squeeze and probably slightly more illegal than usual, but no one cared. Dipper quickly turned around and drove straight for the shack.

* * *

Everyone piled into the shack, crowding around the sofa. Ford knelt beside her. He was very worried. "Stan..." He begun, but Stan cut him off.  
"Yeah, I know..." Sten replied, knowing what Ford was about to say. "Dipper, come with me." He said, leading Dipper up to the attic. Wendy stood in the room awkwardly. "Uh, Mr Pines, would you like me to leave as well?" She asked.  
"Actually, would you mind lending me a hand?" Stanford asked, answering Wendy's question with a question.  
"Ok, what do you need me to do?" Wendy asked. She took off her shirt and placed it on the table, beneath it, she was wearing a light grey vest. Ford didn't reply for a moment.  
"I-I'm not sure yet..." He admitted. "It depends on what's wrong with her." He slowly removed the blanket from Mabel. The condition of her sweater was enough to make Ford want to cry. It had been her favourite, the one with the shooting star on the front, but now, it was blackened and the shooting star pattern had been burnt away. Ford placed his fingers to her neck, searching for a pulse. He couldn't find one. By this point, Ford was starting to properly panic. He gently peeled off Mabel's sweater.

* * *

Dipper paced nervously, walking from one end of the attic to the other and back, again and again, and again. Stan sat on the end of Dipper's bed. "She'll be ok, won't she..." Dipper asked, now that he'd done his part his protective instincts were receding, letting his worry for his sister take over.  
"Mabel will be fine..." Stan said. He was saying it as much to himself as he was to Dipper.  
"But Grunkle Stan wh-" Dipper was cut off  
"Dipper, it's Mabel. Have you ever seen anything stop her before?"  
"N-no..." Dipper said quietly.  
"There we go then!" Stan said with a smile. He stood up and walked over to Dipper, intercepting the boy's pacing. Stan wrapped his arms around Dipper, embracing him in a tight hug.

* * *

Ford dropped Mabel's sweater to the floor. The sight that met his eyes made him feel violently sick. Ford had never been 'squeamish', not by any definition of the word. He'd seen people have various parts of their body blown off, he'd seen people torn apart, there was even one incident where he'd seen someone who had been turned inside out. But he'd never been affected by any of them as much as he was now. Maybe it was because he was looking at his niece, Mabel, the girl who always had a smile on her face and could cheer anyone up without even trying. Mabel's originally white vest was covered in black and red patches and it was in tatters. The parts of her skin that were visible under the tatters of her top revealed serious burn marks and deep gashes that covered her chest and stomach. Ford willed himself to move, he had to do something. But the sight of Mabel paralysed him. Seeing Ford starting to shut down, Wendy sprung into action. "Ford, I need you to go upstairs with Dipper and Stan." She said softly, yet forcefully.  
"But I-" Ford tried to protest.  
"I'll do what I can, leave Mabel with me, you go upstairs." Ford wanted to stay down here and take care of Mabel but Wendy had a point. He slowly rose to his feet.  
"I-I'll be back in a minute..." he mumbled. Before slowly walking upstairs. Wendy waited for him to leave. Once he'd gone, she tied her hair back in a pony tail and looked down at Mabel. She gently removed Mabel's undershirt so she could see the true severity of her wounds. Sure, Wendy didn't have any degrees, she wasn't all that good at school and she had nowhere near as much experience as Ford, but she was one thing that Ford wasn't, a Corduroy.

* * *

Ford walked into the attic to see stan and Dipper locked in an embrace. As he entered, both Dipper and Stan looked at him hopefully. "Is she going to be ok?" Dipper asked worriedly. Ford looked at the floor guiltily. "I-I don't know..." Ford admitted. "Wendy took over from me..."  
"I'm sure she'll be fine!" Stan announced. "Besides, it kinda makes sense for Wendy to be the one taking care of her, I mean, they're both girls after all," Stan said with a smile trying to raise morale a little, though inside he knew that if there was something about what had happened to Mabel that was bad enough to shake Ford, then the situation could be far worse than he initially feared.

* * *

Wendy did her best to clean and cover all of Mabel's wounds. But she also had to work quickly, with each moment that passed, Mabel's fate was sealing. Eventually, Mabel's wounds were tended to. Wendy felt Mabel's neck for a pulse, nothing. Wendy took a deep breath, she joined her hands together, placing the palm of her bottom hand on Mabel's chest and gave her 30 chest compressions. Wendy then checked to see if Mabel was breathing. Nothing. Wendy took a deep breath before giving rescue breaths. She checked Mabel's breathing again. Still Nothing. By this point, Wendy was starting to panic. She followed repeated the process again.

Chest Compressions  
Nothing  
Rescue Breaths  
Nothing  
Chest Compressions  
Nothing  
Rescue Breaths  
Nothing

Wendy's vision suddenly started to blur as her tears started to well up in her eyes. By now she'd well exceeded the number of times you were supposed to try CPR. She wrapped her arms around Mabel, hugging her limp body close to hers. "Mabel, please don't go..." She whispered.

* * *

Ford, Stan and Dipper were getting restless, it had been a while since Ford had joined them in the attic and they still hadn't heard from Wendy. They all wanted to know Mabel's condition and the waiting was killing them. Eventually, Ford broke the silence. "I'm going to check on them." He announced.  
"But-" Stan was about to argue, but Ford cut him off.  
"You two stay here, I'll be back in a minute." For said with authority, before leaving the room.

Ford walked down the stairs and into the living room, he looked over towards the sofa, but what he saw instantly told him everything he wanted to know. Wendy was clutching Mabel, tears running down her face. Ford had never seen Wendy cry before. He made his way over to her. Upon seeing Ford, Wendy's face lit up with hope. "Y-You can save her, right?" She asked. Ford looked at Mabel, he desperately racked his brain. When he had been stranded on the other side of his portal, he spent quite a lot of his time with an ingenious scientist who could cure almost anything. The only thing that even that scientist could cure, was death. Ford reached his hand out to Mabel, gently placing it against her forehead. She was cold.  
"There's nothing I can do..." he said sadly.

Ford climbed the stairs and walked into the attic. Stan and Dipper looked up at him hopefully but when they saw his expression, they both started to fear the worst. "She's ok, right?" Dipper asked desperately.  
"M-Mabel is... dead..." Ford announced, the words catching in his throat. As he spoke, his tears started to spill down his face.

* * *

 **I'm sorry that I took so long to write this chapter, I had to do it in small chunks thanks to work and all that jazz. Also, the chapters are getting far more emotional to write, so I'm trying my best! I definitley won't give up and I will finish this story! The next chapter will hopefully be published very soon! Thank you so much for reading!**


	12. Chapter 12 - Dipper's Descent

"Mabel is dead." Were Ford's words. The attic room of the Mystery Shack fell into silence. Dipper didn't believe a word of it. He looked at Ford as if to ask 'you're joking right?' but Ford didn't see him. Dipper started to worry, it was really hard to make Ford cry but right now, he was blubbing like a baby. Dipper marched out of the room with purpose, leaving his Grunkles alone in the attic. He walked into the living room and looked over towards the sofa. Mabel was lying on the sofa like she had been earlier, though now her chest and tummy were wrapped up in bandages, she almost looked like a half mummy. Dipper smiled, Mabel would probably enjoy looking like a mummy. Dipper made a mental note of the idea of a mummy, after all, Summerween was close and they still hadn't decided what they were dressing up as for trick or treating. After last year, Dipper had decided that he was still young enough to trick or treat a little longer. Kneeling beside the sofa was Wendy. She hadn't noticed Dipper walk in, she was looking at Mabel and gently running her fingers through Mabel's hair. Dipper walked over to them, kneeling beside Wendy who, upon noticing him, pulled her hand slowly away from Mabel and backed away giving him space to sit with his sister.

"Hey Mabel, it's me," Dipper said softly, placing his hand on Mabel's forehead. She was cold, too cold. But that was ok, it was just a reaction to whatever Bill did to her, she just needed to warm up. Dipper pulled the blanket over her again and decided he'd need to find an electric heater or something. He turned away from Mabel, ready to go searching for a heater when he noticed Wendy. She was sat against the wall with her knees beneath her chin and her face buried in her hands. "Wendy?" Dipper asked with concern.  
"I'm... sorry..." Was all Wendy managed to say, her voice was muffled by her hands, but something about it didn't sound right.  
"What for?" Dipper asked.  
"I couldn't save her..." Wendy managed to say, after a pause she finally managed to look up at Dipper. Dipper's eyes widened with horror. Not only was Wendy crying, which she never did either, there was a look of guilt and helplessness in her eyes. This was Wendy, the girl who always had a plan and a 'never give up' kind of attitude yet, here she sat, she had no plan and she had definitely given up. Dipper walked back over to Mabel, sitting beside her once again. He looked down at her face, the face of the girl he'd grown up with his entire life, the girl who had made him laugh, the girl who had always been there for him, the girl who'd literally saved his life more times than he could count.  
"Is she really... gone?" Dipper asked quietly unable to pull his eyes away from her lifeless form. The single word he received from Wendy as a reply was literally soul destroying, in more ways than could be imagined. That one word...  
"Yes..."

Dipper walked into the attic, closing the door behind him, not even noticing that Stan and Ford had vanished. He flopped face first onto his bed and cried. For the first time since Bill had attacked Mabel, his emotions came pouring out, as did his tears. The truth had hit him, hard. He felt as if someone had just ripped out his heart and ripped it apart in front of his face. How could he face life without Mabel? He cried and cried until eventually, his tears stopped, not because he was any happier, just because he'd run out of tears to cry.

* * *

Dipper stayed in the attic for days barely moving. He refused to talk to anyone when they came to see him and he refused to eat when they brought him food. He became something of a husk, a former shell of himself. He felt empty on the inside as if someone had ripped out his soul. Stan, Ford and had made many attempts to break through and talk to Dipper with no success at all.

"Dipper?" Stan asked, walking into the attic again, he had a bowl of spaghetti bolognese in his hand. He knew that his attempts would be in vain, but he was going to attempt to talk to Dipper again. "I brought you up some dinner, you must be getting hungry..." There was no reply from Dipper. Stan placed the spaghetti on the end of Dipper's bed and sat next to him. Both Stan and Ford had been discussing getting a therapist or something to try and help bring Dipper back, at this rate they felt like they were losing him too. This was Stan's last chance to try and get through to him before they did that. "Please talk to me kiddo..." Stan asked desperately. There was a pause. Stan closed his eyes, he knew this wasn't going to work, so why was he trying?  
"G-Grunkle Stan?" Dipper's small croaky voice caused Stan's eyes to instantly snap open, he looked at Dipper, who was looking back up at him with teary eyes. Stan couldn't believe it! He grabbed Dipper, embracing him tightly in his arms.  
"Yes, Dipper?" Stan managed to ask, his emotions trying to choke his voice.  
"It's my fault..." Dipper mumbled. Gradually, Dipper had started to feel an overwhelming emotion that sat alongside his depression and emptiness, guilt. If he had waited for Ford instead of trying to be a hero, maybe Mabel would still be alive. If he'd never made that deal with Bill... If he'd have noticed her coming... Tears rolled down Dipper's cheeks, he hadn't cried in ages, his emptiness hadn't allowed him to. Stan took Dipper by the shoulders.  
"Look, Kid." He said gently but sternly. "None of this is your fault, you hear?"  
"But Grunkle Stan, I let-"  
"Dipper, none of this is your fault, so don't beat yourself up about it." Stan handed Dipper his spaghetti. "Here, have something to eat, it'll make you feel better." Dipper took the bowl, he hadn't noticed how hungry he was. "Th-thanks..." He said gratefully, though he still couldn't shake his guilt. "Dipper, if you ever need someone to talk to or anything, you can always come find me, ok?" Stan told Dipper softly.  
"Thanks, Grungle Stan," Dipper said, slurping up a strand of Spaghetti. He wiped his tear stained cheeks. He had been stupid, trying to go through everything that was going on by locking himself away. The only way he was going to survive this was if he stayed close to those who cared about him. Besides, it must be tough on everyone else as well. Stan stood up, feeling as if he'd overstayed his welcome.  
"I'll be downstairs if you need me..." He said awkwardly.  
"I-I'm gonna come with you..." Dipper mumbled. Stan's face lit up.  
"C'mon then." He said wrapping his arm around Dipper gently.

The two emerged into the living room, Soos and Melody were sat on the sofa, Melody was embracing Soos. They'd returned to the shack after Dipper had gone upstairs and the news had hit them both rather hard, especially Soos. Dipper looked between them, trying not to think about the fact that the last time he was downstairs Mabel was lying on that sofa.  
"Wh-where's Mabel?" He asked Stan quietly. Stan looked down at Dipper, thinking of how he should explain it.

* * *

Ford emerged from a stairway that was built under a tree in the forest. As he stepped away the tree rose upwards concealing the stairway from view. He had a lot of work to do. He took off in the direction of the Mystery Shack.

* * *

 **This chapter took me for EVER! For which I am truly sorry, it also didn't end up at all like I was hoping, but I hope that it's at least ok! I'm hoping to get the next chapter up much sooner than this one! Thank you all again! 3**


	13. Chapter 13 - A Realisation

Dipper sat bolt upright in his bed, he was breathing heavily and was covered in a cold sweat. He had been woken up by his dream, no his nightmare. In his nightmare, he'd seen Bill and it had ended up in Mabel's death. Dipper looked over towards Mabel's bed, yes, she was still there. Not wanting to wake her, Dipper lay back down in his bed, tightly wrapping the cover around him and trying to go back to sleep. As much as he tried to resist, he couldn't help but think about his dream. It had all been so realistic, it was weird how the mind worked when you were asleep. After a while, he gave up on trying to go back to sleep. He glanced over at Mabel's bed again, as he did, she seemed to stir in her sleep. Dipper checked the clock, it was only 3 am, he quietly climbed out of bed and made his way downstairs, wanting to be able to move around and do stuff without disturbing Mabel, besides, he was getting hungry anyway. Dipper crept down the stairs from the attic trying his best not to wake anyone up. He walked through the living room and into the kitchen. Dipper switched the light on and proceeded to make himself something to eat. Despite his dream, Dipper felt really good, maybe the confirmation that his dream had just been a dream rather than reality had been enough to cheer him up, after all, the dream had been so... real.

The next few hours flew by for Dipper and soon enough he heard footsteps approaching. He looked over towards the door to see Grunkle walk in, he seemed rather surprised to see Dipper sitting there. "Morning, Dipper." He said softly. Dipper suddenly realised that something wasn't quite right. Stan was lacking his usual eagerness to tease his nephew in some way, his face seemed greyer and more aged than usual, he even seemed to have even less energy than usual. "Morning, Grunkle Stan!" Dipper said with a smile, placing his bowl in the sink. Stan was not expecting Dipper's cheery response and abundance of energy at all.  
"It's good to see you back to your normal self," Stan said with a smile.  
"What do you mean?" Dipper asked, obviously confused.  
"Well, you know... after... after yesterday..." Stan replied awkwardly, he didn't want to directly mention what had happened, as it would make the whole thing seem all the more real if he did.  
"What happened yesterday?" Dipper asked, suddenly beginning to fill with dread.  
Stan didn't really know what to say, had Dipper really forgotten or was he in denial? One thing was for sure, the last thing Stan wanted to do was have to break the news to him again. "D-dipper..." He stuttered uncertainly. "Mabel..." He hesitated, unsure whether or not he would be able to keep his composure if he said it out loud. "She... she died..." He mumbled, finally bringing himself to say it.  
Dipper sighed, fearing it was going to be something else. "Don't worry, she's fine," Dipper said reassuringly, the fact that Stan had had the same dream as him barely phasing him, after all, this was gravity falls and many much weirder things had happened here. "She's in bed right now," he added. Though it did strike him as a little weird that she wasn't up yet, Mabel was always the first one up and about. "Look, I'll show you!" Dipper said, pushing aside the doubt he was beginning to feel. He knew what he'd seen and he'd seen Mabel. Dipper grabbed his Grunkle's hand and practically pulled him upstairs. They burst into the attic, Dipper's awareness of how loud he was being had completely vanished. Sure enough, he saw what he was expecting, Mabel was still in bed, though she seemed to be completely under the cover. "See, there she is."  
"Dipper..." Stan started, he couldn't take any more of this, it was breaking his heart too much as it was, seeing Dipper like this was just making it worse.  
"Seriously, look!" Dipper insisted. He'd seen her earlier, he was sure of it. Dipper started to pull the cover back and was met by a squeal before Waddles leapt from the bed and rushed out of the room. Dipper didn't know how to react, he had been 100% sure that Mabel would be there.  
"Dipper..." Stan started gently but his voice quickly vanished and he couldn't find the words to say what he needed to say.  
Dipper froze, just staring at the now empty bed, his world collapsing around him as the truth hit him. Even yesterday, when he'd seen it happen, he'd pretty much refused to accept it as the truth, but now his mind had run out of excuses. Dipper was so out of reality that he didn't even realise the waterfall of tears that were rolling down his face. Stan walked over to dipper and wrapped his arms around him tightly finally giving in, his composure faltering as he also started to cry, clutching tightly onto his great nephew.

* * *

 **Hello everyone! No, I'm not dead... at least I don't think I am... and no, I haven't forgotten about this story, in fact quite the opposite. I am really really sorry for not having posted in what is almost exactly 6 months now. My time became much more limited and I have rewritten this chapter so many times now cause I just wasn't happy with it at all. I know where I want to take the story and what key points there are along the way but sometimes I just struggle with how to write some of them. I definitely plan on continuing this story and finishing it and if it comes to it, I even have plans for a sequel(s) maybe? But for now, I'm just gonna focus on finishing this one and hopefully not keeping you waiting this long again. I'm really sorry everyone and hope that you enjoy the rest of the story!**

 **-Geo-**


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